Shipping in the Panama Canal must be further restricted. Low water levels as a result of an unusual drought and high temperatures mean that there is less traffic on the waterway.
Shipping in the Panama Canal must be further restricted. Low water levels as a result of an unusual drought and high temperatures mean that there is less traffic on the waterway.
The low water level in the Panama Canal is putting increasing strain on shipping traffic. According to the canal administration, the number of ships that can use the waterway must be reduced again. By February next year, the number of ship passages that can be booked should be gradually reduced from 30 to 18 per day, according to the canal operator.
The level of Lake Gatun continues to fall
The measure is the result of a drought the likes of which has not been seen in the region for decades. It was said that there had never been as little rain in October since 1950 as it was this year. Since little rainfall is expected until the end of the year, the measures must be taken. “Lake Gatun levels have continued to fall to levels never seen before this time of year,” the Panama Canal Authority said.
The Panama Canal begins in Colón in the north of Panama and ends near Panama City in the south. After the opening of the expanded canal in 2016, the waterway has three lock systems through which ships are raised to the level of Lake Gatún, which is 28 meters above sea level, and later lowered again. Since the expansion of the canal, large tankers and freighters with up to 14,000 containers can also be channeled through the waterway.
Fewer ships, smaller draft
The canal’s capacity had already been limited in the middle of the year due to low water levels. Not only has the number of ship passages been reduced in recent months; The maximum draft with which ships are allowed to pass through the canal had also been reduced. The approximately 80 kilometer long canal connects the Atlantic and the Pacific in Central America.
In normal times, around 14,000 ships pass through the waterway every year. Around six percent of world trade is carried out through it. The Panama Canal is particularly important for transporting goods from Asia to the USA. Over 40 percent of containers shipped from Northeast Asia to the U.S. East Coast typically transit through the canal. It also enables faster transport of US goods to Asia and the South American Pacific coast. According to experts, the Panama Canal is less important for the German economy than the Suez Canal.
Climate change is hindering shipping worldwide
According to experts, climate change is increasingly hindering shipping as an important transport route for goods around the globe. In addition to regional droughts that make rivers such as the Rhine more difficult to pass for transport, this also includes a larger number of hurricanes and rising sea levels. Around 90 percent of global freight transport takes place by ship.